A Growing Danger Behind Online Gaming
Cheating in video games once meant faster reloads or infinite lives. Today, it’s a gateway to cybercrime. What began as a gaming shortcut has evolved into a serious cybersecurity threat, according to penetration tester and researcher Jace Randolph.
“Cheating at video games has become an attack surface that can no longer be ignored because it’s not just cheating at games anymore,” Randolph said. “The data being siphoned off these networks—home, business, even government—is staggering.”
In a recent interview with Corey Munson of PC Matic, Randolph described how cheat software is now being used to bypass antivirus protection, capture network traffic, and steal sensitive data.
How Game Cheats Became Malware
Randolph’s research began after he noticed a discussion about Direct Memory Access (DMA) in the gaming community. “Direct memory access is something that’s hardware-based,” he said. “I’m really big into hacking hardware and pen testing devices, so I wanted to learn more.”
That curiosity led him into underground forums where cheat developers and users collaborate. “I started realizing there’s an entire attack surface I’d never considered,” he explained.
Installing these cheats often requires disabling critical security features. “Most come with a manual,” Randolph said. “It walks you through turning off Secure Boot, disabling MMU for DMA, or changing PCIe generation settings. We’re talking kernel-level access.”
Once those protections are removed, the system becomes wide open. “The one machine that has turned all this off and has kernel access is now probing the network and seeing all the traffic going across,” he said. “There’s nothing a VPN or tunnel can do at that point because it’s operating before encryption.”
An Underground Business Built on Cheats
What Randolph found wasn’t a loose group of hobbyists but a sophisticated supply chain. “There are three tiers,” he said. “Developers create the cheats, resellers market them through Discord, Telegram, and WhatsApp, and users sit at the bottom.”
Resellers treat cheating like a business. “They’re dealing in crypto, using offshore accounts, building shell companies,” Randolph said. “They even hire ad specialists. It’s organized and profitable.”
Cheat advertising is aggressive and targeted. “Type in ‘I want to get better at Call of Duty,’ and you’ll be flooded with offers to download hacks,” he said. “That’s how quickly someone can fall into it.”
Lateral Movement: One Device Infects Them All
Randolph’s experiments confirmed how easily one infected computer can compromise an entire network. “I’m still seeing contamination at the network level from a single, non-associated device,” he said. “Antivirus can be bypassed because the system has kernel access.”
That infection can spread to work computers, phones, and IoT devices on the same Wi-Fi. “It’s not as simple as it used to be,” he warned. “If one person in the household cheats and connects that system, everything on that network is exposed.”
For small businesses, the risk multiplies under bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. “If an employee cheats on a personal laptop and then connects that device to the company network,” Randolph said, “that infection can move laterally into corporate systems. And yes, this has already happened.”
The Role of AI and Cryptocurrency
Automation has accelerated the problem. “What AI is doing is speeding up distribution,” Randolph said. “It allows cheat developers to manufacture and spread their tools faster.”
He added that some use machine learning to analyze stolen data and improve detection evasion. “There are servers taking in information collected from these cheats at scale,” he said. “That data is then used to refine future exploits.”
At the same time, infected systems are being hijacked for cryptocurrency mining. “A lot of host machines are taken over,” Randolph noted. “They’re mining off your computer and using your hardware—and that’s the least of your worries.”
Practical Steps for Families and Small Businesses
Randolph’s advice for parents is straightforward. “Be involved,” he said. “Gaming has become a babysitter for kids. The best thing I ever did was play alongside mine.”
For small and midsize businesses, the same principle applies: separate work and personal systems, keep software up to date, and block unauthorized applications. “If I owned a small business and employees worked remotely,” he said, “I’d invest in private network access for each one. Compare that cost to what a ransom could cost you.”
A Cultural Problem Demanding Awareness
Randolph believes the challenge is as much cultural as it is technical. “Game publishers are doing what they can,” he said, “but unless there’s some form of legal deterrent against developing and distributing cheats, this will continue to grow.”
He sees cheating culture as a training ground for more serious cybercrime. “If we don’t start recognizing how far this has evolved,” he warned, “it’s only going to get harder to stop.”
The message for families and organizations is clear: cybersecurity begins with awareness and control over what runs in your environment.
